Red 5 confirms lay-offs

Californian MMO developer Red 5 Studios has confirmed an internal re-shuffle that has resulted in lay-offs and voluntary departures.

Yesterday it was reported that around 30 members of staff were axed, but the company has so far refused to detail specific numbers, according to GamesIndustry.biz.

"Red 5 remains committed to releasing a AAA quality, online title targeted for a worldwide release. The company has restructured the team in order to accomplish this goal. As part of the restructuring, some team members chose to part ways while others were let go. Red 5 has great respect for these departing team members and the contributions they have made," said Red 5.

The company also confirmed a new source of financial backing, which a reported to come from Chinese MMO publisher The9.

"Red 5 Studios is currently working on an unannounced massively multiplayer online game. Recently, the team formed around a new direction and took on additional investment from a strategic partner in the online games industry," said Red 5 in a statement.

All of this has provided EA's Jeff Brown with the perfect chance to slag off Mitch Lasky - a Red 5 investor - again, after the latter claimed EA was "in the wrong business" and on a road to bankruptcy.

"Now that Red 5 Studios is bankrupt, Mitch Lasky can devote more time to giving business advice on his blog," he told Gamasutra.